Commodore VIC-20 - Review & Overview

In this video I take an in-depth look at the classic 8-bit Commodore VIC-20 computer.

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#commodore #vic20 #retrogaming

[markdillon]

The VIC20 - my first computer. My parents bought it for me for £70 as they were going cheap from a store that no longer exists 'What Everyone Wants'. I remember they were stacked in the middle of the store and they couldnt sell them. I was about 8 years old so 1983 it was. Xmas morning 1985 I got my Commodore 64 and the best xmas I ever had. My parents bought that for me second hand for £170 with about 20 games and a joystick. They were really struggling cashwise but they scraped the money together and got it for me - Ill never forget that. Im a middle aged man now, and to this day I always treat them well and look after them financially (and every other way). They deserve it.

[awwrelic]

The Vic-20 was the first computer I ever owned, back around 1984. While I had a number of traditional video games for it (including Gorf and Omega Race), I usually gravitated to the text games. I was horrible at them, but I still kept coming back for more, like Adventureland, Pirate's Cove and Dracula's Castle. Eventually my brother introduced me to the C64 and with that it was a whole new ballgame. When I got another C64 in 1994, I was even able to take it online by 1995, using a 1200-baud modem, a 1571 drive, a copy of Telix 3.2.1 (terminal emulator) and the text-based Greater Columbus Freenet. Granted, if I ever get nostalgic for the Vic-20 days, I have TheC64 Maxi; that can emulate not only C64 games but also Vic-20 games. Thanks for the look back!

[JustWastedHoursHere]

Considering that the VIC-20 does not have a true bitmap mode and no sprites it's pretty impressive what some programmers were able to do using the reprogrammable character set. The game you show "Omega Race" is a prime example of what can be done with some imagination and ingenuity.

[srvuk]

I was on the verge of buying one of these in 1982 just as the announcement of the C64 came along and waited for that.

[ridiculous_gaming]

The fact that you can pick up any retro computer today, for such a cheap price is absolutely astounding, and you found 2 smoking deals? Amazing! I have a couple of cartridges for a Vic 20, but as of yet, no computer. Back in the early 80s a friend of mine did have Omega Race on his Vic 20. This was a fantastic version of the arcade game.

[leonardotherapydog]

My first computer also! I remember getting home from school and powering it up and pressing LOAD on the datasette, going downstairs to eat dinner, then running back up stairs to "maybe" having it done loading all 3.5K of memory or erroring out and starting the process over just to play a single game.😂😂😂

[chrishensley]

I have many good memories of the Vic-20 over at my buddy Ken's house after school. Tape drives took forever to load. :)

[ecdhe]

The Vic-20 can also be a very dangerous computer. It's the machine used in the John Wick movies to dispatch "contracts"

[jayme]

Awesome pickups! That's the exact pack that I got for Christmas 1983 after first owning a ZX81. I just wanted to correct you on one point ... Gridrunner is clearly the best game on the VIC20 ;-) I now have the VIC20 version of the C64 Maxi and absolutely love it, mainly because of the included Llamasoft games :-) Thanks for sharing and keep up the awesome work!

[thedungeondelver]

My first computer. Frustrating and at the same time a joy. I learned to program BASIC on here, played my first text adventures (Scott Adams' licensed games), Jupiter Lander...such a great little machine. Oh how I wanted an 8k or 24k expansion card! :)

[ser_olmy]

The "ruler thing" is for making programming flowcharts.

[paulphillips]

My first computer and I love it so much. Mine was also badged a VC-20 and I just assumed it was some sort of printing error only finding out about 20 years later that it was due to VIC sounding very naughty in Germany. Re the cartridge slot they are always stiff and don’t improve with use. It also came with an external rf modulator as standard to connect to TV something commodore did again with the Amiga 500.

[captaincorleone]

Fantastic haul! When you can, sort out a 32k expansion and the SD card loader and check out the new games that've been released. There's some great stuff now that has good music and sound - including samples. 😉

[michaelturner]

13:54 The base VIC-20 actually had 5k RAM, with 3.5k usable for BASIC programs.

[chrishensley]

A few years back I picked up a C64 Maxi emulation system. Its the one with the working keyboard, anyway I was pleasantly surprised to find out it also emulates Vic-20 as well. :)

[michaelturner]

The stencil in the Introduction to BASIC pack is to help users draw neat flow-charts.

[kenwheeler]

Very nice finds. I would definitely keep both. Redundancy is a very good thing concerning vintage equipment.

[OperationPhantom]

Second new video in a week about someone in the UK finally acquiring a V(I)C20 I watched... nice to see all the goodies that came with it. If I had unlimited room I'd want to try one for sure. It probably has its own unique feel in some ways, which was the great/bad thing in the 80s: so much choice, which system will survive in the long(ish) run and offer the most value/entertainment. Shatner was a VIC fan. Is Slough really that bad? Oh dear, hope no Sloughers (?) were watching... I bet they're well hard.

[michaelturner]

About the stiff cartridge ports on the VIC, and maybe not used much. The one I had, I inserted a 16k memory expansion, and left it there for the four years I used that computer. All the VIC games I had came on cassette, not cartridge.

[alexandermirdzveli]

17:37 It's for drawing block diagrams for your algorithms.